No Facial Recognition on M14x?

Just recieved my m14x and heard about facial recognition on prior alienware laptops but couldnt find it... Does the m14x not have this or am I blind?

 

Dell charges extra for FastAccess and I've noticed that some methods of ordering do not include the option of adding it. It should have been offered under a Webcam category.

 

Couldnt you just install some software yourself? I mean I'm sure all it is is software

I just mean instead of having to go through Dell

 

The software is called aliensense. I'm sure if you look hard around the net you will find it. Shouldn't be a pain to install and get it to work.

 

^^ has anyone done this? / have a guide on how to do this

 

Aliensense has been 'retired'. This is why it was removed from Command Center. You wont find a 'guide' or way to integrate the old Aliensense components into the new Command Center.

 

I find it pretty useless anyway. Anybody with a picture of your face will be able to log on your Windows Session.
I had it on the M11x and deactivated it after one week of using it. It would consume battery a little faster and was not very accurate.

 

Well that would explain why FastAccess was offered instead in some places. You can order the software from the company directly here if you really want it. I might just do that as it worked really well for me on my StudioXPS for the most part.

 

Nearly downloaded it myself, glad I read your post first.

Now I know anyone with a picture of Brad Pitt could access my m14x, it worried me somewhat.

 

I will try tomorrow

To swap the M11x face recognition software on the M14

Will keep you all inform of my findings

By the way if u have some clues they are all welcome, i an just thinking in digging in the software DVD that comes with the m11

 

Yes, you can download and install FastAccess from the Sensible Vision website.

 

Sorry to disagree, but this is simply not true. FastAccess is highly photo resistant. The vast majority of standard photos will be rejected and with the latest versions of 3.X of FastAccess, even most photos taken through the webcam itself will ALSO be rejected. Here's more info from our FAQ site:
Can someone break into my account using a photograph of me?
Under what conditions COULD someone use a photograph of me to gain access to my account?
What about a “brute force” photo attack?

The additional battery use is extremely minimal (the camera uses very little energy to begin with and - depending on the specific mode chosen - isn't even used 100% of the time). With EcoAware (power control through Face Tracking available in 3.X Pro) in fact battery life can be extended.
What does EcoAware do?
Will EcoAware extend my battery life?

Sorry to disagree again, but I can say confidently that it's also highly accurate. Recognition in a given location will be well over 90% (even higher in more varied lighting with the latest version - I get around 98% myself) and false positives are virtually non-existent. If you're having difficulties being recognized often enough, contact Sensible Vision directly so we can help to trouble shoot.
How can I improve recognition performance?
How does the learning algorithm work?
How is the FastAccess recognition programming tested for accuracy?

 

You can disagree all you like, I took a picture of my face and my m11x opened the session everytime. Maybe the picture was a lucky shot.
edit : everytime I showed it The same picture. Again, it was maybe a lucky shot

You can go and check the M11x optimization thread, one of the tricks to improve battery life is to completely turn off Aliensense so the service associated with it doesn't eats ressources.
I'm not saying that you'll gain 40minutes of battery; but it is still to consider in my opinion.

Finally, my girlfriend who also owns an m11x never was able to use face recognition and decided to turn it off by herself.

That said, I really liked the concept and might have gone through a bad streak with the Fastaccess system. Had the "photography test" not been successful, I think I would have held on to facial recognition.

You made me curious, though And I think I might run some more tests this week with my girlfriend's m11x to see if I can reproduce the photo test.

 

It's an outside possibility, but very unlikely. The other possibility to be aware of is that if the photo was taken from the perspective of the webcam (or better yet through the webcam), it's more likely to succeed (much less likely in recent versions of FastAccess - see the FAQs that I posed earlier). Our "Face + Password" feature (which AlienSense never had) is specifically designed to address this scenario with convenience and maximum security if it's a real concern.

A photo will also succeed nearly 100% of the time if you hold up the photo and then type the password. Not saying you did that, of course, but if this happens then the photo will be actively enrolled (a fact which is irrelevent from a security perspective since knowledge of the password is necessary to do this in the first place and if some has that knowledge then they have your account already - end of story....no need to even mess with a photo). Obviously one should simply not do this with one's own account as it's functionally equivalent to writing your password on a post-it note.

True, using anything will use some battery. The camera is a pretty small draw, however - especially compared to the screen, Wi-Fi, and a lot of other things. EcoAware can actually improve energy use (FYI - AlienSense never had EcoAware).

What do you mean by this specifically? If you mean that she was having recognition difficulties, I can think of a few likely things to trouble shoot. I would welcome the chance to work directly with you and her.

The key is to make sure that your face is detected (the blue "alien head" outline in AlienSense and the green "corners" in FastAccess) ALL through login. If for some reason these go away then all bets are off.

Good - let me know the results. Obviously photo access is something that we've taken seriously for years and IMO do a much better job of than anyone else out there. In fact we installed our technology in banks and hospitals long before offering to the consumer market so you can imagine what kind of tests it's undergone in the real world.

Also be sure to read through the FAQs that I posted earlier so you can do the best test possible. I'm sure you're not one of them, but you'd be surprised just how many people hold up a photo, type in their password, and then claim that photos break the system (see above).

 

Overall I like the FastAccess software, but I do have two issues with it. First, I have to make sure I look into the camera and make sure my face is positioned just right for the software to draw a box around my face. Sometimes I have to move farther away or closer to the camera. So there's time wasted doing that. The other problem I have has more to do with my laptop's webcam software not wanting to resume when my computer is coming out of suspend mode. The software just sits there waiting for the webcam to fire up and it never does so I just use my password. A full restart usually fixes that. Nothing too big, still really like the software.

 

Thanks!

The camera resume problem is odd for sure. Would you mind contacting me through our website so we could take a look at that with you? No promises, but I'm curious.

Regarding your other challenge, I'm honestly a bit surprised that you have to be that careful to get good detection (the green box). Normally is quite flexible and easy. What version of FastAccess are you using? I'm thinking that marginal lighting could be a problem (maybe)? In that case, more recent versions of FastAccess have a feature called "FaceBright" that turns the login screen white, thereby throwing more light on the face. Definitely worth a shot.